Autumn is in full swing so I thought I’d finally do some baking to warm up these chillier days. Unfortunately work has gotten busier so I haven’t written as much recently, but this delicious dessert has made me realise how much I like trying out new recipes and eating it all afterwards 😀
This spiced toffee apple cake is the perfect answer to cold grey afternoons when all you want to do is curl up in bed. In fact I think this is what a hug would taste like if you ate it. It does take a bit of prep before baking but it’s actually quite therapeutic and the results are well worth it.
Ingredients
- 200 g dates (I used medjool)
- 200 ml milk
- 200 g unsalted butter, softened
- 175 g light soft brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 small red apples (I used cox)
- 1/2 bramley apple
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- For the toffee sauce:
- 8 toffees
- Splash of milk
- Pinch of sea salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F.
- Line your baking tin with parchment paper.
- Roughly chop the dates and simmer gently in the milk in a saucepan for 5 mins. Leave to cool.
- Blitz the dates and milk in a blender / food processor until it forms a smooth puree.
- Prepare the apples. Peel and dice the bramley apple into small chunks.
- Quarter and core the cox apples and cut into thin slices. Toss them with a squeeze of lemon juice and leave in a bowl.
- Using an electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar. Crack in the eggs, one at a time and mixing in between. Add in the date puree and vanilla extra and continue whisking until smooth, but don’t worry if there are still some lumps.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (flour, baking powder and spices).
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Add the diced bramley apple into the cake batter and mix gently.
- Scrape the cake batter into the baking tray.
- Arrange the sliced apples into overlapping rows on top of the cake. You should be able to get three rows.
- Bake for 50 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
- While you leave the cake to cool, prepare the toffee sauce. You can either melt the toffees with a splash of milk and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, or in the microwave (mixing every 30 seconds). Start with less milk and add more to loosen the sauce if it is too stiff.
- Drizzle the toffee sauce generously over the cake.
- Serve warm (and with vanilla ice cream, if you’d like) – enjoy!
(Recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com)
This cake is wonderfully moist (thanks to the date puree) and surprisingly fluffy. The sharp tangy apples are nicely balanced against the salted toffee drizzle. I can’t wait to try out more recipes with autumn and winter flavours, and I hope you give this one a go!
Its too drooling………..love to taste it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person